


The Upper Hand

by rae_marie



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Gen, also yes doyen is another word for master, he never is very subtle anyway, lots of smugness be warned, the transcendence of ephros, two geniuses trying to outwit each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-08-20 01:35:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16546310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rae_marie/pseuds/rae_marie
Summary: When two former allies run into each other, a lot of scheming ensues.





	The Upper Hand

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by the Doctor Who audio, The Transcendence of Ephros, in which we meet a former companion of the Master. I started to wonder what would happen if they ever met again.  
> \- Rae

'Oh, hello!'

The cheery voice came from behind him, and the Master turned.

'I suppose you're who I'm supposed to be working with for this project,' she continued.

He knew she was familiar, but didn't quite know why. Carefully, he sent out the most subtle of telepathic waves, trying to figure out who she was without it being noticed. Then he knew. He smiled, trying to be disarming; not that she could actually see it. Maybe she'd hear it in his voice.

'Oh, I don't know about that,' he said. 'This is rather dangerous work, you know, and you wouldn't want your eyesight to interfere; you might get hurt....' Ever so quietly, he reached for the TCE in his pocket, but before he could take it out, the woman laughed and pulled out a pair of spectacles with lenses clearly meant to augment blind eyes. He laughed as well, trying to act casually.

'The wonders of technology,' he said. The woman nodded and put them on.

'I can see you perfectly, now,' she said. She looked around. 'The laboratories here are rather well-stocked, don't you think?'

The Master nodded. No use trying to draw the TCE when her back was turned either; her senses were obviously keen enough to hear it coming. How had she survived, anyhow? And why was she here? Surely not for science. No. Perhaps....

 _Perhaps she is here for the same reason I am_ , he thought. _It would make sense enough._ _Hmm. I wonder...._

'So what is your name?' he asked.

'Oh - I'm Dr Fin,' she said. 'And you?'

'Professor Doyen.' He straightened a little. 'A Master of.... _everything_.'

She laughed. 'Oh; I used to know someone who would've disagreed with you on that; he would've said _he_ was the Master of everything!'

 _Oh, you really have no idea, do you, Finsey_ , he thought. _No idea at all. Nice touch with the alias, though_.

'So! What do you think we should start on, Dr Fin?' he said aloud.

Finsey strode over to the table and looked at the samples of the metal, and then at the notes he'd collected. He came over as well; he needed to know exactly what she was doing; to be prepared for her next move.

'Hmm....why not start on the instability of the metal,' she said. 'For example: why does it turn into gas or liquid so easily?'

'That's exactly what _I've_ been trying to figure out,' he said. So that _was_ why she was here then; to figure out how to use the metal. Unless....well, she always _had_ held a rather odd preoccupation with financial gain. He groaned inwardly; was she here for something as petty as _money?_

They worked for hours, and by the end of it, the Master started to feel a little better for not having had the opportunity to draw the TCE; Finsey was making good progress, and perhaps, when she made a breakthrough - which he had no doubt she would - he could use it to his advantage.

*****

The guard had been easy enough to get past, and feeling rather pleased with that, Finsey smiled as she quietly made her way into the storage room. She had left her spectacles in her pocket; she found it easier to be able to get around the storage room without the odd infrared glow, but now that she heard a crunching beneath her feet, she put them back on, and saw the shining, coppery metal. She knelt down, and took out a scanning device.

The device was old, and had battery problems. She muttered under her breath as she felt it heating up until it burnt her, and she dropped it.

Then she noticed that the vision in the infrared lenses was becoming distorted around where she had dropped it. Gingerly, she picked up the device, fiddled with a few buttons, and then tried to scan again. When she saw the readings, she gasped, and stood up quickly. She ran for the door, and after briefly pausing to shut it behind her, didn't stop running until she was back in her room. She checked the device again, and then laughed.

'Perhaps there's more value in this metal than just _selling_ it.' She looked at the device again and smiled. 'With the temperature the non-solid forms seem to be at, this could prove quite useful for.... _other_ things.'

*****

'Professor Doyen, did you realise how hot this metal can get in non-solid form?' she asked, the next day. He nodded.

'I have. It's quite fascinating, really, the things it can do when it's not in its solid state.' He looked at her frankly. 'What do you propose it could be used for?'

 _Well, I'm not going to_ tell _him that._ 'It might be useful for heating systems,' she said. 'For space stations and the like. Do you think so?'

Professor Doyen nodded, seeming to consider this. 'I suppose.... Do you think it could be used for anything else?'

'Not thought of anything else yet,' she said. She almost laughed at his stupidity. He really was quite trusting of her. She couldn't _wait_ to see his reaction when she brought her plan to a head.

*****

The Master watched through the surveillance system as Finsey walked once more into the storage room, this time with a small sack full of ice. She carefully picked up a handful of the metal, dropped it in the sack, and left. The Master chuckled.

'Oh, you still have no idea, do you, Finsey? I could tell you thought me naïve today; well! Perhaps that's what I _wanted_ you to think.'

He switched off the surveillance monitor.

*****

Finsey, back in her room, spilled out the contents of the sack onto her desk. She needed to get this just right, or it would turn into the scalding vapour completely uncontained. Carefully, she picked up a small box covered with electronic controls, and with a set of tweezers, transferred the small shards of metal to it. Then she shut it tight.

She took the old battery from her scanner, and clipped it into the battery pack. There. It was all done, now. She only had to go back to the storage room and figure out how to move the metal to the getaway pod she'd found and hidden.

But for now, she would sleep.

*****

The next day passed much like the last, until she tried to sneak past the guard by the storage room again.

'Stop,' he said, his voice strangely monotone. Finsey put on her spectacles and stared at him. How could she have been found out, and today of all days? He walked over.

'No one will pass into the restricted area,' he said, still sounding odd. In fact....

Finsey adjusted her lenses and looked more closely at the man. He had a rather blank stare, almost as if he'd been hypnotised.

Well. She would remedy that.

'Guard, do you see this?' she asked, taking the out her door key and swinging it in front of him. 'Do you see it, going back and forth....and back....and forth....'

The guard blinked, then gasped.

'Where is he!?' he shouted. 'That man - he did something to my head and I - ' He looked around frantically, then back at Finsey. 'Dr Fin....it was Professor Doyen....he told me to look at his eyes, and then everything's blurry, except that....'

He went blank again, and drew his gun. '....except that I must obey him....I must obey my Master....'

Finsey whipped out the box of metal shards and pressed one of the buttons. The guard yelped and fell to the ground with a cry. Then he lay still.

Finsey stared at the guard. It couldn't be possible....

'No....' she whispered. 'Professor Doyen can't be _him_.... His voice is nothing like _his_ was.... Then again, he always was a master of disguise....'

She smirked, and went to open the storage room door.

'Well, if it's _the Master_ , then I guess I'll just have to outwit him,' she whispered. 'It'll be fun; seeing which of us can bring this metal to its full potential first. And then I'll betray him, of course. It's what he'd expect of me.' She paused, and grinned even wider. 'That is, if he doesn't outwit _me_ first....'

*****

The Master walked down the corridor towards the storeroom, and noticed a new guard was standing outside. He frowned. He'd have to do this all over again, and after he'd put so much effort in on bending the last one's will. He strode over to him.

'Good evening, guard,' he said, cautiously. 'Where's the other guard tonight?'

'Don't know what happened, Professor Doyen. We found him mysteriously dead in front of the door a few hours ago. I'm his replacement.'

The Master frowned. _Finsey_ , he growled mentally. 'Well that isn't good,' he said. 'We can't have guards dropping dead just like that. Perhaps we should have a biometric system up and running, so no one has to stand guard at all!'

The guard shrugged. 'It's a good idea,' he said. 'Might save trouble.' The Master chuckled.

'Though, really, I don't think any biometric scan of yours would understand _my_ eyes at all; they're rather unusual.'

'Really?' the guard said. He looked bored.

'Yes; all of my kind have eyes that tend to shift colour frequently; if you look at mine, you can even see purple and gold flecks occasionally. Can you see?'

The guard looked up at him, and then relaxed.

'That's it, guard,' the Master said, quietly. 'Just look into my eyes, and relax; nothing else matters. I am the Master, and you will obey me.'

'I will obey you,' the guard mumbled.

'Yes; that's right. Now. Listen to me. When Dr Fin comes back, you are to let her pass, and you will not even notice she is trying to break in. You will observe everything else she is doing, and then you will report to me regarding it. And you will tell no one else but _me._ Do you understand?'

'I understand, Master. I will obey.'

'That's good, then,' the Master said. He turned, and walked away. Tests on the metal could wait. He had enough in his lab to do extra work on his project tonight.

*****

Finsey gathered the metal, sackful by sackful, slowly, every day for a week, until she had stored enough in the luggage compartment of the pod, over the engine, to get her at least a _million_ credits once she had built the weapons out of them. She felt like this was almost too easy, really; she'd expected someone like the Master to have worked out what she was doing by now. She hoped he wasn't slacking in what she now guessed was a new....oh, what had he called it....re-transformation? No - that was it - _regeneration_.

Anyhow; nothing was getting in her way, and she was quite happy with that.

She took one last look at her getaway pod, then turned, and walked back down the corridor to the laboratory.

*****

The Master heard the door open, and looked up. Finsey ambled in, hands behind her back.

'I'm going to be leaving today,' she said. The Master smirked and raised an eyebrow.

'Really? You haven't finished our research yet, Dr Fin; is it too low for your brilliance?' Finsey laughed.

'No; no....' she adjusted her lenses. 'I simply have finished all I came here for - and actually a bit _more_ than that - and now I'm leaving. _Master_.'

The Master froze. He had wondered, of course, if she had guessed, but had never _counted_ on it. Then he laughed; a low, intimidating chuckle.

'Oh, Finsey, Finsey, _Finsey_ ,' he said. 'Someone of your brilliance should have prepared for this, instead of walking straight into my trap....'

He drew a box out from under the table, and aimed its firing lens at her. 'You really think I wouldn't recognise you, now that you're older? Oh, _please_ ; don't underestimate _me_.' Finsey smirked.

'I suppose you think I won't be getting away alive with whatever breakthroughs I've made?' she said.

'Well, you can't really _blame_ me,' the Master said. 'I don't want _competition_....surely you know that by _now?_ And although I'd dearly love to know how you escaped the last time I tried to kill you, I really can't take the chance that you'll find another way of escaping me _now_ ; so how about you admit defeat and tell me what you've discovered before I kill you _this time?_ '

Much to his annoyance, Finsey laughed; long and light and derisive. He frowned.

'Oh, _Master!_ I think the shoe really is on the other foot. Not how could _I_ underestimate _you_ , but how could _you_ underestimate _me?_ ' She brought her hands to the front, and in them, was an almost identical box.

'Snap,' she said.

The Master smirked.

And then she fired.

The Master jumped out of the way, and the blast from the weapon hit the barrier waiting behind him. A screen on the desk lit up, and he laughed.

'Oh, _bravo_ , Finsey; it's better than I could've hoped!' He smiled at the readings, and then looked back at her.

'I guessed you would have developed a similar weapon to mine, and so I set up a force barrier to test its capabilities. You've done _wonderfully_ ; you really have. I don't say this to many people, but I think you've done better than I could myself. Now. Hand it over, if you please.'

He held out a hand, and Finsey backed away, smiling.

'Why should I?' she said. 'If I hand it over, I'll have nothing to take you down with as I escape! I mean, I really regret having to shoot you, but you can't say it isn't something you taught me. If you hadn't gotten tired of me and tried to kill me before, perhaps we would _still_ be working together!'

The Master laughed. 'You really think I killed you because I was _tired_ of you? You _seriously_ think that? I killed you because you were _too dangerous alive!_ And you were supposed to _stay_ dead.' He drew the TCE. 'I'm not going to make that mistake again.'

He moved to the side of her, blocking her exit. Finsey frowned, and tried to fire the box, but nothing happened. She paled.

'Wha - What's wrong with it....'

'Oh, did I forget to mention? The barrier drained all the power from it. It'll need full recharging before it can work again.'

Finsey stumbled backwards. The Master switched on the TCE.

But as she backed into a corner, he didn't fire. He caught her gaze; an artificial gaze, but a gaze nonetheless. It would still work.

'I suppose it was a mistake for you to wear your lenses in here,' he said. 'You won't look away. You will _keep_ looking into my eyes, and you will obey me.'

Finsey was silent, but he knew she was fully hypnotised. 'You will hand me the weapon - ' she dropped it into his hand ' - thank you; and now you will listen to me. You will go to your escape pod, thinking you've won, and you will leave.'

'You're letting me go,' she mumbled. He wondered how she had enough presence of mind to realise that.

'Oh, but I didn't let you go free,' he countered. 'When you step outside this door, you will come to yourself, and you will remember that I nearly killed you a second time, and this time, it was such a close call that you _never_ want to try to double-cross me again. Well....' he smirked. 'You might not get the _chance_ to, but that isn't important. What _is_ important is that _you will obey me_.'

'I will obey you,' she whispered.

'Good. Now get out.'

'Yes, Master.'

She flew out the door.

*****

Finsey ran down the corridors, convinced the Master was going to come running after her any second. She had to make it to the pod....had to make it to the pod....

She slowed down once she was in the docking bay, found her pod, and flung open the door. After buckling in, she programmed an emergency launch sequence, and braced herself as she was pinned to the chair by the gravity of the takeoff. Soon, the flight path evened out, and she felt herself released.

She looked out the window. There was a yellow planet below; one she had often noticed from the lab window. There were always a lot of metal, conical aliens skimming about on it, and she had often wondered what they were.

 _Wait - what's that?_ She sniffed, and smelled something rather like burning metal. She turned, and the infrared of her lenses got so muddled that she could barely see her hand in front of her.

_No._

The luggage compartment was over the engines. The _hot_ engines.

She turned when she heard the communication unit beep to life.

'Hello, you!' came the Master's voice. 'I suppose you're having a bit of a _problem_ right now, aren't you?'

'Master - what have you _done?!_ ' she shouted. He laughed.

'Oh, come _off_ it; we both know it's what _you've_ done. Only, I just so happened to think of using it to my advantage. You see that planet down there? That planet is currently occupied by _Daleks_. And it's where you'll have to land if you want any hope of escaping your fate.'

'What fate!?' she shouted, almost choking with rage.

'Oh, well; I don't know if you ever _thought_ of why the metal's non-solid form is so deadly as a weapon. It's rather _explosive_ when it gets hot. It's rather _corrosive_ , on occasion, as well....'

'You - '

'Ah-ah! None of that! If you want to survive, you'll shut up and listen. You're going to have to land that pod on the planet below. Time it right, and you won't crash. You may _even_ get out before even the _gentle_ impact of landing ignites the metal into an _inferno_. So go on. Land. And tell the Daleks their nemesis says hello.'

With a shout of determination and fury, Finsey smashed the communicator and started frantically programming a landing sequence.

'Come on; come _on_....' she muttered, hanging on to the dashboard for dear life as her craft dropped to the planet below. Then, it slowed, and drifted towards the ground. She felt the pod settle, and sprang for the door.

*****

The Master watched through the surveillance monitors linked to the planet below as Finsey bolted away from the pod as fast as her legs could go. He saw the pod explode, and the squadron of Daleks behind it being obliterated with the blast. He smiled and shook his head.

'Finsey, you do have rather a knack for cheating death.' He switched off the monitor and chuckled.

'I suppose you learned from the best....'


End file.
